


Gifts

by rilina



Category: Saiunkoku Monogatari
Genre: Canon - Anime, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-11
Updated: 2007-07-11
Packaged: 2017-10-03 06:52:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rilina/pseuds/rilina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gifts given, gifts received.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gifts

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for season 1 of the anime.

1.

Seien learns not to trust gifts. Soon after he first garners praise for his swordsmanship they begin to arrive, delivered by smooth-faced servants and accompanied by long-winded scrolls, and it's not long before the initial trickle becomes a deluge. Costly trinkets from civil servants are demands for future favors; toys from his ambitious grandfather flatter and cajole. And this box of sweets, of rice cakes and honeyed dates, from unknown well-wishers? Cut them with a silver knife, and watch the blade discolor, revealing poison.

He remembers those gifts when he offers his own. Ryuuki can barely carry the sword, but his eyes are wide with pleasure. It's almost sad how little it takes to make Ryuuki happy.

In a perfect world, Seien thinks, Ryuuki wouldn't have to learn to be wary. But this is Saiunkoku, and if Ryuuki's going to survive, he will.

* * *

2.

Junior officials aren't supposed to have free time, but Reishin finds some anyway. More often than not, he uses it to visit Houju in Finance, to share sketches of his designs for new masks.

After fifteen minutes of Reishin's pointed chatter, Houju reaches for the most convenient item on his desk and hurls it at Reishin's head. Reishin catches it more out of self-defense than interest.

"Why Houju," he says, delighted at how quickly he's ruffled his friend's composure. "A present?"

"Use that to hide your idiot face," Houju says.

Reishin looks at the object in his hand for the first time. It's a fan, not an unusual thing to have on one's desk in this summer heat; the tassel on the end is simple, but no doubt costly. A flick of his wrist, and it opens. He likes the snap that it makes as it spreads wide.

He raises the fan to cover his smirk.

"I'll keep it."

* * *

3.

The residence is quiet, too quiet, and in the hallways the servants gossip in hushed voices, somehow aware that this crisis is different from all those which have come before. Shuurei's face is flushed with fever, and Shoukun knows the doctor's fussing won't be enough to save her. The minutes of their time together slip away with each of Shuurei's labored breaths.

Shoukun has always known that her days of freedom were numbered; she's treasured them all the more because of that. Now she's come to this crossroads, this choice: her life, or her daughter's. This future, or that one.

The decision itself is easy. Shoukun could not act differently, though she leaves so much behind. And when she collapses on her own bed, for what she knows will be her last rest, Shoukun feels lucky, so lucky, that she was born with the power to give away her life.

* * *

4.

Ran Shuuei's delivering papers for Official Ro when he finds Li Kouyuu turning in circles outside the archives. For once the younger boy isn't bristling like an alley cat, all claws and teeth and aggrieved dignity. He simply looks weary and upset, and Shuuei finds himself wishing that he hadn't laughed when the other shinshi poked fun at Kouyuu's sense of direction (or lack thereof) back in the dorms.

"Ah, Kouyuu, were you waiting for me?" He pretends not to see the paper that Kouyuu's crumpling in his fist, the one with the map that Shuuei sketched out for him the previous evening.

"Why would I be waiting for you? And when did I give you permission to address me so familiarly?"

"I'm on my way to Finance next." Shuuei leans suggestively into the other man's personal space. "If you want to keep me company longer, come with me. After that, I'm supposed to go back to Protocol."

"Hmmph. Well, I'll walk with you, but not because I want your foolish company, Ran Shuuei. I'm just delivering papers for Official Ro to Minister Kou."

Shuuei knows this, of course; he was present when Official Ro gave Kouyuu the task, two hours earlier. But he only grins and says, "You can pretend that's your reason, but I know you just want to spend more time with your favorite friend."

"Friend, ha! More like idiot."

They walk off together. Shuuei hopes he can come up with an excuse to be in Finance by the time they get there.

* * *

5.

Over the years, Shuurei loses count of all the gifts that Ryuuki has given her. It's amazing how easily she forgets them, especially considering how many of them made her fume at the time. Blocks of ice, baskets of eggs, those pollen-laden flowers, that infamous voodoo doll. Of course, there are some that she'll always remember, like the flower she still wears in her hair. It's not in memory of him, but it might as well be.

She doesn't recognize his best gift when it's given; she takes it for granted, as simply her due. It's only later, when she's older and worldlier, that she realizes that Ryuuki never actually had to release her from his household. Yet he did, of his own free will, and he never forced her to return.

Freedom is a gift that few are in a position to give, and those who can rarely do.

"I am so sorry, Ryuuki," she tells him, when she finally understands. "I never thanked you."

As always, he smiles at her use of his name.

"No, Shuurei, you have. A thousand times over, you have."


End file.
